The appointment of former Aer Lingus boss Willie Walsh as the new head of British Airways brought the challenges facing Ireland's national carrier back into focus on Tuesday.

While BA will soon have two chief executives -- current CEO Rod Eddington who leaves in September and Walsh who starts in May as CEO designate -- Aer Lingus has been without a CEO since the end of January and has been hunting for one since November.

Walsh resigned from Aer Lingus at the end of last year after disagreements over the future funding of the airline.

Although the group had returned to profitability following a brush with bankruptcy in 2001, senior management was keen to secure new sources of funding to invest in its long-haul fleet.

Walsh and the two other senior executives who resigned with him were said to be frustrated at government delays in making a decision.

"Government indecision isn't helping matters," said one airline analyst, who declined to be named.

"The airline is making profits but if the industry should go into a tail spin they (the government) couldn't put more money into the company... It does have need of fresh capital."

Ireland has been considering options on funding the airline's future development, including the possibility of privatization, for several years. The government has already said it does not want to invest more public money in the group.

In December, Transport Minister Martin Cullen said the government would decide by the end of January how the airline should be funded.

But that deadline came and went and there is no indication of when the government, currently in talks with unions on the issue, will make a decision.

"The discussions with stakeholders are ongoing," a spokesman for the Ministry of Transport said on Tuesday. "We'd hope to be able to progress it in the near future."

Meanwhile Aer Lingus is still without a new chief executive.

"The process is still ongoing," a spokeswoman for the airline said. Aer Lingus won't say how many people it has shortlisted or when it is likely to make an announcement.

An independent report commissioned by the Irish government into the future of Aer Lingus last year suggested the airline could be partly sold via the stock market but said a full sale was unlikely to succeed given tough market conditions for full-service carriers.

High oil prices have made investors cautious over investing in airlines although Aer Lingus's efforts to market itself as a low-cost airline could make it more attractive.

"Timing an issue is always tricky and the jury's out on whether you want to be in airlines at the moment," the analyst said.

Even if the government does opt for part-privatization, analysts say it is unlikely that a sale would succeed until the new CEO had settled into the job and the market had assessed them.

Last year's independent report -- compiled and submitted before Walsh and his team resigned -- said that if the government opted for an initial public offering, investors would want to ensure senior management, credited with the airline's turnaround, was retained.